*Florida voters sent two Black candidates into consequential November statewide races Tuesday night, with Republican U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds winning his party’s nomination for governor and Democratic state Rep. Angie Nixon pulling off an upset for the U.S. Senate nomination.
The results put Donalds and Nixon on opposite sides of Florida’s political divide but within reach of separate milestones. Donalds will become Florida’s first Black governor if he defeats Democrat David Jolly in November. Nixon would become the state’s first Black U.S. senator if she can defeat Republican Sen. Ashley Moody.
And Nixon’s victory was the surprise of the night.
The Jacksonville lawmaker defeated retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the former National Security Council official who testified during President Donald Trump’s first impeachment and who substantially outspent Nixon during the campaign. The Associated Press reported that Nixon will now face Moody in the Nov. 3 special election to complete the final two years of Marco Rubio’s Senate term. Rubio left the seat after becoming Trump’s secretary of state.
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Donalds Gets His November Shot at History
Donalds entered Tuesday as the favorite in Florida’s crowded Republican gubernatorial primary and emerged with the nomination.
The Trump-endorsed congressman defeated a field that included Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner and James Fishback. With Donalds advancing, Florida is now one election away from potentially electing a Black governor for the first time.
“The primary is over,” Donalds told supporters Tuesday night. “Tonight we put aside our differences. Tonight we are one united Republican Party.”
Donalds also acknowledged Trump’s powerful endorsement while arguing it wasn’t enough by itself to win.
“Obviously, he has the strongest following of anybody in our party,” Donalds said. But, he added, “you can’t just sit back and think the president’s endorsement is going to carry you.”
His November opponent brings an unusual political biography of his own. Jolly is a former Republican congressman who switched parties and won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination Tuesday.
Florida has not elected a Democratic governor since 1994, giving Donalds a significant historical Republican advantage heading into the fall campaign. But Jolly is pitching himself as a political alternative who can appeal beyond the Democratic base.
Angie Nixon Pulls Off the Night’s Surprise
If Donalds’ victory was expected, Nixon’s wasn’t.
Nixon defeated Vindman despite being heavily outspent, sending a progressive Black state legislator into a statewide race against Moody, Florida’s former attorney general.
Vindman quickly backed Nixon after losing.
“Rep. Nixon ran a strong campaign,” he wrote on social media. “I will be standing by her side in the fight against Ashley Moody. I hope you’ll join me.”
The challenge ahead is substantial. Florida voters have not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 2012, and Moody enters the general election in a state that has shifted decisively toward Republicans in recent election cycles.
Still, Nixon’s win gives Democrats a nominee who already demonstrated an ability to overcome a financial disadvantage in the primary — and it places a Black woman at the center of one of Florida’s biggest statewide contests.
Wyoming Sends Another Black Democrat to November
Florida wasn’t the only state where a Black Senate candidate advanced Tuesday.
Former Wyoming state Rep. James Byrd won the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate, taking about 78% of the vote as of Tuesday night, according to Wyoming Public Media. Byrd will face Republican U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, who won the GOP nomination for the open seat being vacated by Sen. Cynthia Lummis.
Byrd has political history in his family. He is the son of the late Liz Byrd, Wyoming’s first Black woman state legislator.
“Because we are on the right side of this,” Byrd told supporters during his acceptance speech. “We are backed through the people.”
That makes Tuesday a notable primary night for Black candidates far beyond Florida.
Donalds, Nixon and Byrd now move from winning their parties to the considerably harder task of winning statewide electorates in November.
For Florida, however, the stakes come with an unmistakable historical footnote: voters could elect their first Black governor or their first Black U.S. senator.
The primaries decided who gets the opportunity.
November decides whether either first actually happens.
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